Chapter 3

THE SHIP WAS bustling with restless souls when Danaelya boarded it. She noted that no one here can possibly help her since one look at their faces tells her that they're just as confused as she was.

"Excuse me," a high-pitched voice said. "Coming through."

"Don't just stand there, lady. Find your spot!"

"You're blocking the way! The other souls can't come through."

Danaelya whirls around to find a line of souls behind her. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She quickly moves out and awkwardly stands on the side.

"Miss, do you need anything? A drink perhaps?" Danaelya turns her head from side to side but sees no one talking to her. "Hey! I'm here! Yes, here, below. Lower right. Yes. Yes."

Danaelya blinks once. Twice. Three times. For the third time, her eyes widen and she opens her mouth to scream-- "Please don't," the dwarf said in a hurried tone. "You don't wanna offend others by screaming at me and trust me they are not ones to mess with. So, if I were you I would close that mouth and would get rid of that expression off my face."

Danaelya seems to be doing a lot of blinking tonight but she did what she was told. "Uhm, hi," she said breathily. "What--"

"Don't ask questions that start with WH and H." The dwarf shakes his head. "I am Ellionivichsky Malignouscamous."

"Uhm--"

"They call me Gregg. Double g at the end. My twin has the same name but he only has one g." 

"Oh!" Danaelya still couldn't shake off her bafflement and it showed in her voice. "Hi! I'm Danaelya." She stretched out her hand but the dwarf, Gregg, refused it.

"You don't want to be in contact with a duwende, trust me." The dwarf hops on a wooden platform.

"A what?" Danaelya couldn't resist asking.

"Duwende." He gestured to the ship and Danaelya saw that there were other guys who were like Gregg.

They are creatures Danaelya has never seen before. They are short, like dwarves, only a few feet tall. They are hunched back, their noses were big--no, enormous. It almost swallows their whole face. Their eyes are bulging out and they have a lot of warts. Their head is obviously larger than their body which is scrawny. Most of them are wearing tattered clothes and they are filthy. They are the probably the worst-looking creature Danaelya has ever seen. But she doesn't dare say that.

"I would stop looking if I were you." She yelps at the sound of Gregg's voice and immediately regrets it because now, half of the dwarves--duwende are glaring at her. "I told you not to scream."

"You scared me," she hissed back. Gregg smiles at the duwende as if to assure them that she is not screaming because she's scared but she's laughing. 

"You're lucky none of them cursed you already or you're dead."

"Curse?" She asks.

"Yes, cursed. Anyways, can you please answer my first question now? Because I still need to run rounds." Danaelya stares at him blankly. Gregg blows out a frustrated huff. "Miss, do you want a drink?"

"Oh! Yes, absolutely!" Gregg beams at her answer. His eyes turn into those puppy eyes, if that is possible.

A bubbling sensation has occured on Gregg's drink and it started to overflow. "Oh, ghost!" He began flourishing his hand uncontrollably and after a few tries, he was finally able to stop the overflow. "Here's your drink miss. Hope you enjoy being a perfect student."

He hops off and walks away, skipping. Danaelya stares in amusement. She lifts the drink to her mouth and takes a sip. Just then a hand shot out, preventing her from drinking any further. "What--"

She turns and sees Reagan. She gasps loudly and jumps to hug her best friend, drink forgotten. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here too!" She gushes. Her heart feels elated at the sight of her friend.

"Yeah, me too," Reagan replies. She pushes Danaelya from her lightly and looks at her worriedly while Danaelya looks confused. "Did you drink from that?" She gestured to the cocktail looking drink on the table.

"Only a sip." Danaelya tilts her head. "Why?"

"Do you feel anything?" Reagan asks, not answering her question.

Danaelya takes a moment to feel herself. Aside from the sweet and sour taste of her drink, she doesn't feel anything else. So she shakes her head.

"Really?" Reagan sounds surprised so she pauses again to see if she will feel anything but there's nothing.

"Why?" Danaelya pressed on.

Reagan takes her by the elbow to the far side of the ship. Her voice drops into a whisper when she says, "Earlier, another person drank the same thing. A girl. Then moments later, she started growing uncontrollably. And when I mean grow, I mean like a giant balloon. She almost floated into space." Danaelya gasps. "Thank god, the other… creatures were able to catch her just in time. Now, she is locked in a room to prevent her from "floating"."

"But I feel nothing," she whispers back. But then, an uncomfortable feeling settles in her gut and she begins to doubt Gregg. What if the same thing happens to her? Or what if something worse?

"Well, if you don't then that's good." Reagan relaxes. "What are they anyway? Do you have an idea? You seem to be close to one of them."

She opens her mouth but another voice answers. "WE are duwende." Both girls were startled and they turned to find Gregg by their feet, holding a platter of fruits. "These are for you, miss." He gives it to Danaelya and she takes it uneasily. 

"Don't worry, I didn't chant any curse on that. And for you," he pointed an accusing finger to Reagan. "That girl was cursed because she bad-mouthed one of my brothers. If she didn't do that then maybe she could even be blessed."

"What are you really?" Reagan asks and Gregg glares at her. Danaelya could feel the tension radiating from between them so she stepped up slightly."A dwarf?"

Gregg spits, much to Danaelya's surprise. "A dwarf? You would compare us to dwarves? Blech." He faked vomiting and Danaelya doesn't know whether to laugh or what.

"Well, I don't know. I'm sorry," Reagan says sarcastically which only angers the duwende more.

"First of all, do not ever compare us to those low-life creatures. That is like the greatest insult. Ever. Be thankful, I'm not like the others, I don't curse easily or you'll be done by now." Reagan rolls her eyes. "Anyways, we are called duwende, as I've said earlier. We are more similar to goblins than to dwarves. If you make us happy, or we're happy with you, we can bless you with many things. Golds, diamonds, wealth, you name it. However, do not try to insult us or do anything bad to us because we can also inflict the worst curse that even witches cannot easily do."

"Duwende," Reagans says pensively.

"Have you got any more things to say, soul?" Gregg says the word as if it is an insult. Reagan, on the other hand, looks like she'd rather take 10 examinations in a row than talk to this one. When she said nothing and did nothing, Gregg looked conceited. "Very well then. If you need me or anything, just ring this bell and I'll come running. I'll be serving other more grateful souls. Bye, miss."

With that, he struts away, leaving Reagan and Danaelya baffled. "Uhm," Danaelya starts.

"Don't say anything."

"Okay," she replies quietly. The two girls then proceed to look out to the beautiful scenery laid out before them. Their hairs were being whipped by the wind and both of them look wistful as if they're thinking the same thing. "Is this real?"

"I don't know." It was the first time Reagan admits that she doesn't know anything but then neither does she. 

They are not sure what to make out of everything. Are they still asleep? And is this all just a dream? But then Reagan's with her, does that mean that she can enter her dream? But the way things are happening, they seem to become more natural as time goes by. And Danaelya doesn't know if that terrifies her or comforts her.